Complete 1971-79 series now appears in deluxe 28-disc DVD box set

DavidB. Wilkerson

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) — “All In the Family” stands as the seminal television show of the 1970s because it works on three brilliant levels: as an uproarious comedy in the classic sitcom tradition, as a blistering social satire and as a first-rate character study.

The complete series, which aired on CBS
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from 1971 to 1979, has recently been released in a deluxe 28-disc DVD box set by Shout Factory, which licensed the show from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
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.

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Priced at $180, the set includes a wide variety of extras, including a new interview with creator Norman Lear, a 40-page book with essays by USC professor Marty Kaplan and TV critic Tom Shales, two documentaries on the series, both of the show’s pilot episodes, the pilots of spinoffs “Gloria” and “Archie Bunker’s Place,” and more.

What may be overlooked about “All In the Family” is that for all of its frank discussion of race, politics and gender issues, under creator Norman Lear it was constructed in the very best tradition of television comedy.

“In a world of so many TV shows, you’ve got to do something that catches the viewer’s attention,” said Tim Brooks, long-time media research expert and co-author of “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present.” “At the same time, if you get somebody to watch you because of that, there has to be a ‘there’ there. It can’t just be a gimmick. This one kept the buzzworthiness up because it had episodes that made people say, wow, did you see that?”

A classic sitcom

Many of the funniest episodes are riffs on time-honored sitcom plots, as when Archie hatches a scheme that inevitably backfires, or takes a blustery, wrong-headed position on some burning issue that proves to be false. In these segments, Archie almost seems like an updated, more politically outspoken version of “The Honeymooners” Ralph Kramden. Carroll O’Connor was a great admirer of Jackie Gleason, and on a few occasions, “All In the Family” writers borrowed “Honeymooners” plots and made them over in the image of the Bunker patriarch.

One of the “Honeymooners” episodes to air in the 1956-57 season was “Forgot to Register,” in which Ralph (Gleason) exhorts Norton (Art Carney) to vote in a local election by delivering a stirring speech about the Pilgrims, only to be unable to cast a ballot himself because he hasn’t registered.

In the season 2 “All In The Family” episode “The Election Story” (aired Oct. 30, 1971), Archie is infuriated by a liberal candidate in a local election, Claire Packer. Mike and Gloria are strong supporters of Packer’s, and they invite her to the house, resulting in an archetypal “All In the Family” discussion about women’s liberation, welfare, the nuclear arms race and more. See the 10 best “All in the Family” episodes.

This is also the episode in which Archie looks at a ballot of candidates with different ethnicities. “Salvatore, Feldman, O’Reilly, Nelson — that’s an Italian, a Jew, an Irishman and a regular American dere,” he says, talking to Mike. “That’s what I call a balanced ticket.”

Archie hadn’t planned to vote (“I save my vote for the biggies,” he said, referring to presidential elections), but decides to make an exception here just to oppose Packer. When he gets to the polling place, where Louise Jefferson is volunteering, his name isn’t on the rolls because he hasn’t voted since 1960.

“The ‘All In the Family’ writers worked within traditional plot lines, and this was important for the audience,” said Jeffrey McCall, a professor of media studies at DePauw University, “because they could recognize the structure of a sitcom. But then they would get a different perspective on some of those structures.”

Social satire

Through the show’s first four seasons, the character of Lionel Jefferson proved a constant source of inspiration for “All In The Family’s” writers as they sought different ways to take on the issue of race.

Lionel (Mike Evans, in his first acting role) makes deliveries to the Bunker home from Jefferson Cleaners, and from the beginning he needles Archie, having fun with the old man’s absurd beliefs about blacks. In the first season’s “Archie Gives Blood,” (Feb. 2, 1971), Archie assumes that one should only give blood to someone of the same race, so when he sees Lionel at the blood bank, he tells Mike, “I bet he’s down here to do some kind of an odd job, right Lionel?”

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